Box hinge



W. RUFF BOX HINGE Oct. 9, 1956 Filed Jari. 7, 1955 .INVENTOR. WA L-TE R RUFF A ATTORNEYS.

Unite 1 BOX HINGE Walter Rulf, Buffalo, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Hake Manufacturing Company, Roanoke, Va., a corporation of New York Application January 7, 1955, Serial No. 480,456 6 Claims. (Cl. 16-128) with the box members proper. While reference is had particularly herein to box hinges it is to be understood that the hinge construction of the present invention may be employed for other hinging or pivotal connecting purposes.

Important considerations in constructing hinges wherein the hinge parts are integral with the body members are, first, the design and arrangement of the hinge parts in such a manner as to be readily moldable without unduly intricate or complicated mold mechanisms and, second, to provide hinge parts which may be readily and securely assembled in hinging relation without separate additional parts, such as hinge pins, and without the necessity for employing special tools or equipment for such assembly. Furthermore, a prime consideration in the hinge construction of the present invention is'to provide a hinge assembly which, while readily assembled, is highly resistant to disassembly once the parts are in assembled position.

Certain unitary molded plastic hinge constructions of the prior art are available which are readily assembled without extraneous parts but are objectionable, in general, due to the fact that the parts are almost as readily disassembled in use. For certain special purposes the ability to disassemble the hinge construction and thus separate the box members may be desirable, but in general, and particularly in the case of boxes such as those contemplated in the present invention, it is desired to provide a hinge construction which is absolutely secure against disassembly, either intentional or inadvertent.

Other objects and advantages of the molded interlocking hinge construction of the present invention will become clear to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein a single and complete specific embodiment of the principles of the present invention is described and illustrated. It is to be understood, however, that the form of invention thus set forth in detail is by way of example only and that the scope of the invention is not limited excepting as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a rear perspective view of a box in a closed position and provided with one form of the hinge construction of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary disassembled top plan view of two box elements on a considerably enlarged scale with the box members in the relative positions they occupy when fully open;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2 but showing the box sections with States Patent O their hinge portions in assembled position and with -the box'sections closed;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View on the line 44 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on the line 5--5 of Fig. 2.

Like characters of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing and the numerals 10 and 11 designate, respectively, a body member and a cover member of a molded plastic box, the box being entirely conventional in construction excepting for the hinge structure thereof.

One of the box sections, in the present instance the :body member 10, is provided with female hinge formations while the other box member, in the presentinstance the cover member 11, is provided with complemental mating male hinge formations. Stated another way, the hinge formations on the cover member 11 may be generally described as pivot or trunnion formations while the cooperating hinge formations on the body member 10 comprise bearing formations.

The two female hinge formations of body member 10 are identical, as are the two male hinge formations of cover member 11, so that a description of one hinge assembly will suflice. In any event, as many hinges may be employed as circumstances dictate.

Referring particularly to Figs. 2, 4 and 5, each female hinge formation of body member 10 comprises a pair of spaced parallel bearing or lug formations 15 and 16 which project outwardly from the body portion 10 per se. The bearing or lug formations 15 and 16 are approximately circular as viewed in side elevation with their horizontal center line running substantially through the plane of the upper surface of body member 10. The facing surfaces of the formations 15 and 16 are flat and parallel excepting that formation 15 is provided with a semi-circular flange 18 along its lower marginal edge,

flange 18 extending for approximately as clearly shown-inFig. 3, and flange 16 is provided with a similar semi-circular marginal flange 19 extending along its upper edge as clearly shown in Fig. 5, flange 19 likewise extending for substantially 180.

Each .of the malehinge formations of cover member 11 comprises an outwardly projecting lug formation 21 which terminates at its outer end in a horizontal cylindrical formation 22. The lateral ends of the cylindrical member 22 project slightly beyond the supporting lug formation 21 and are oppositely chamfered as clearly shown at 25 and 26 in Fig. 4, whereby the surfaces 25 and 26 serve as camming formations during assembly of the hinge structure.

It will be noted that the dimension along the lower edge of cylindrical formation 22 as viewed in Fig. 4 is substantially the same as the space between bearing formation 15 and the rim or edge of the arcuate formation 19 of bearing formation 16. Thus, when the box parts are held in approximately closed position, the cylindrical formation 22 may readily be introduced to the space between the bearing formations 15 and 16 from above. It is merely necessary, to complete assembly of the hinges, to press the rear portions of the body member 10 and cover member 11 together, whereupon surface 25 camming against the rim of arcuate formation 19 will resiliently and temporarily spread the bearing formations 15 and 16 and resiliently tend to temporarily twist the lug formation 21 to permit cylindrical formation 22 to move fully downwardly until its lower right-hand edge, as viewed in Fig. 4, meets the arcuate formation 18 of bearing formation 15. At substantially the same instant arcuate formation 19 will snap over the upper left-hand edge of cylindrical formation 22, as viewed in Fig. 4, to entirely complete the hinge assembly.

The hinges thus assembled are wholly secure against disassembly and in fact cannot be deliberately disassembled excepting by mutilation of the hinge parts or by the use of special tools. Thus an entirely permanent hinge assembly construction is provided integral with the body and cover members of the box without extraneous parts or the necessity for using special tools or skills in the assembly operation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a hinge construction for box members and the like wherein the hinge axis is generally parallel to but spaced outwardly from the box members, a pivot member on one box member comprising a generally cylindrical member having its axis lying along the hinge axis, mating bearing members on the other box member comprising spaced formations having generally planar facing surfaces, one of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its lower edge to provide a seat for one end of said cylindrical member and the other of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its upper edge to provide a seat for the other end of said cylindrical member, the opposite ends of said cylindrical member being slanted outwardly toward their respective seats.

2. In a hinge construction for box members and the like, a pivot member on one box member comprising a generally cylindrical member, mating bearing members on the other box member coaxial with said cylindrical members and comprising spaced formations having generally planar facing surfaces, one of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its lower edge to provide a seat for one end of said cylindrical member and the other of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its upper edge to provide a seat for the other end of said cylindrical member, the opposite ends of said cylindrical member being slanted outwardly toward their respective seats.

3. In a hinge construction for box members and the like, a pivot member on one box member comprising a generally cylindrical member, mating bearing members on the other box member coaxial with said cylindrical member and comprising spaced formations having facing surfaces providing end bearing surfaces for said cylindrical member, one of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its lower edge and the other of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its upper edge, the opposite ends of said cylindrical member being slanted outwardly toward the flange formations adjacent thereto.

4. In a hinge construction for box members and the like wherein the hinge axis is generally parallel to but spaced outwardly from the box members, a pivot member on one box member comprising a generally cylindrical member having its axis lying along the hinge axis, mating bearing members on the other box member comprising spaced formations having generally planar facing surfaces, one of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its lower edge to provide a seat for one end of said cylindrical member and the other of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its upper edge to provide a seat for the other end of said cylindrical member, the opposite ends of said cylindrical member being obliquely truncated along generally parallel planes with the projections thus formed adjacent to said flange formations.

S. In a hinge construction for box members and the like, a pivot member on one box member comprising a generally cylindrical member, mating bearing members on the other box member coaxial with said cylindrical member and comprising spaced formations having facing surfaces providing end bearing surfaces for said cylindrical member, one of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its lower edge and the other of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its upper edge, the opposite ends of said cylindrical member being obliquely truncated along generally parallel planes with the projections thus formed adjacent to said flange formations.

6. In a hinge construction for box members and the like, a pivot member on one box member comprising a generally cylindrical member, mating bearing members on the other box member coaxial with said cylindrical member and comprising spaced formations having facing surfaces providing end bearing surfaces for said cylindrical member, one of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its lower edge and the other of said facing surfaces having a flange formation along its upper edge, the end of said cylindrical member adjacent to one of said flange formations being formed obliquely to provide camming action against such adjacent flange formation during assembling movement of the pivot and bearing members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,570,341 Hake Oct. 9, 1951 2,627,995 Walterman Feb. 10, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 279,112 Switzerland Feb. 16, 1952 

